Swellendam Skou

The annual Swellendam Skou (Swellendam Agricultural Show) took place over the past weekend and was one of the biggest and most successful shows yet. This year Swellendam Agricultural Show celebrated the 185th show making it the oldest continuously running agricultural show in South Africa. For 185 years the show has brought together the community to celebrate agriculture with events like livestock exhibitions, saddle-horse championships in the arena, auctioning of top-class stud livestock and poultry and exhibitions of agricultural machinery. In recent years an array of food and crafter stalls, musical performances and a mini amusement park was added to the show to attract and include the entire community.

The Show Grounds ready for the weekend’s festivities.

A wonderfully festive vibe prevails all over town in the days before and during the show. The Show Grounds are the center of the joyous atmosphere and on arrival there you can’t help but feel a bit like a child again – something about the beautiful saddle-horses, carriage carts, the jolly music and multicolored lights of the amusement park rides and the smell of barbecue smoke just takes you back to carefree, childhood days.

Agricultural machinery on display impresses young and old.

The amusement park is one of the main attractions for the little ones.